


A Couple of March 21st Weddings

by DanieXJ



Series: A Year [8]
Category: ER
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 23:28:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3587931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanieXJ/pseuds/DanieXJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The title sorta says it all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Couple of March 21st Weddings

**Author's Note:**

> (I may be being too cautious, but, just in case). Possible trigger: suicide

**oOOOOo What Lies Ahead oOOOOo**

“You’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding.”

“Please, just open the door.”

“No.”

“You know you want to.”

A sigh came through the door, “I do want to. But—”

“I’m about to tell the world, your friends, my friends, your family, my family that I’ll love you forever and ever, what’s one superstition against that?”

There was a silence for so long that the speaker on the hallways side nearly left.

“Okay. I’ll open the door, but if this all goes sideways in a couple of years— you get all the blame.”

“Fair enough.” The door opened and Joe gave his bride to be a smile, “I promise babe, no sideways— ever.”

Ingrid sighed, “I’m just. You’ve done this before, I never have.”

“Your Moms were each others’ seconds. My Mom’s still with her second. We will be together until one of us dies Ingrid. Or, maybe we’ll both just live forever together.”

Ingrid rolled her eyes and yanked him into the room, closing the door behind him. “Josip Lockhart, I get the idea that you might love me.”

Joe smiled and put his arms around Ingrid, “Oh, I do indeed Ms. Legaspi.” She shook his head, “After our inauspicious start who’da thunk.”

Ingrid smirked, “Oh, you mean the fact that you thought that I was going to get in the way of your bro crush.”

“I—” Joe trailed off, then shook his head, “Yeah. Something like that. And, hey, our little soiree can’t go worse than your Moms’ wedding. I mean. Your Mom was late to her own wedding.”

Ingrid laughed, “Which Mom would that be? If I remember correctly, they were both late.”

**oOOOOo Now oOOOOo**

“It’s a lie.”

“What is?”

“That it gets better. It doesn’t. Do you ever hear those who get shit on and shit on and shit on saying it gets better? No. Because it doesn’t. Not unless you know the right people, or are gorgeous, or super smart, or have some damn amazing skill that no one else does, a skill they want. For me— it’ll always be hell. It will never get better.”

Kim was silent, her arms crossed over her chest, “Why are you doing this?”

The young woman frowned, “What?”

Kim gestured towards the rest of the skyline of Chicago, “There are at least hundreds of places you could have taken your leap from. You chose a hospital.”

The woman looked back out at the city, “It’s on my way home.”

“Home from?”

“It’s between my grandmother’s and my parents’.” She sighed, “Just. Please. Leave me alone. Let me do this. You tried, you can tell yourself you tried your best. I just— I can’t do it anymore. Knowing that I’ve failed everybody— that the next fifty or sixty years will be just like this. An unending hell of— of it never being my turn, never getting the benefit of the doubt, never having love from anyone who doesn’t have to love me. Never being —seen— by anyone other than my family.” She stared down at the ground way below, “No one has ever seen —me—.”

“Carla—”

“NO. No. You don’t know. You’re a doctor, you don’t know. YOU don’t know.”

Kim was still for a moment, “I was a kid still. My brother had just died in my arms. I was waiting for the L— I don’t remember which line— I was at the edge of the platform. It was busy I think. I could hear the train coming. I have never been as low as I was in that moment. I felt like I had killed my brother— or at least I hadn’t saved him. I had decided to take that last step. An arm came down over my shoulders. It was a CPD Officer. Officer Doyle— a young guy— He said something about me getting knocked over by the wind of the train if I wasn’t careful.” She paused and held out her hand, “I can’t reach your shoulders and unlike him, I don’t have a convenient excuse to let us both pretend that you’re not trying to kill yourself. And, you’re right— I can’t tell you for sure that it’ll get better. But, you have a family, maybe with some help it can get less worse?”

Carla didn’t move for one of the longest moments of Kim’s life, then he turned and stared at the hand. “No drugs.”

Kim didn’t lower her hand, “I’ll introduce you to Dr. Nowell-Scott. She’s a psychologist, and one who doesn’t like prescribing drugs either. So— ball’s in your court Carla.”

oOOOOo

Kerry dropped her gloves and gown into the biohazard bin and went towards the admit desk. Halfway there Kim swung her around. “You’re still here, aren’t you supposed to be at the church waiting for your oh so beautiful bride?”

Kerry smiled, “A multiple trauma came in just as I was leaving and… you’re here too.”

Kim inclined her head, “I am. And since you’re still here, I have a favor to ask. Will you look over someone for me before I take her up to Psych?”

“The jumper we heard about?”

Kim nodded, “Yes, and could you do a TSH test in addition to everything else too, please?”

Kerry slid her hand down Kim’s arm and gripped her hand, giving it a squeeze, “Whatever you need.”

Kim squeezed back, “Thank you. See you in a minute.”

Kerry finished Kim’s thought, “And then at the altar.”

**oOOOOo What Lies Ahead oOOOOo**

Ingrid pulled Joe close, “You’ll be up there when I’m waiting at the end of the aisle with my Moms?”

“I will. I’m not your ex-boyfriend, I’m not Dolph. I will be there today, and every day for the rest of our lives whether that be two days or two hundred.” He pulled her head closer, kissing her until he was physically jerked backwards.

“Little Boy Blue— go— primp or whatever. We have to prepare Grid for this shindig.” The large man who spoke gave Joe a smirk, “And maybe try one last time to convince her not to marry into the CPD.”

Joe gave the big man a push and straightened his suit jacket. He was in his a tuxedo, while the four men that had intruded on his and Ingrid’s private moment had on their fire fighter dress uniforms. “You’re just jealous ‘cause you can’t convince Paul to marry you Tom.”

“Yeah, yeah, go shrink some cop’s head or something.” Joe gave Tom another push and the big man laughed, “Henry’s down the hall with your Mom.”

Joe looked sad for a moment, “Just my Ma?”

Tom put a hand on Joe’s shoulder. “Yeah, sorry man.”

Joe shook his head and started towards the door, but didn’t get all the way there. Ingrid caught up with him, grabbing his arm and turning him. “Hey, hey. Your Mom’s here, and Randi, and Carlos, and my family, and everyone of those people love you.”

Joe stole another kiss, a smile back on his face, “You forgot you—” He pointed at Tom, “No kidnapping her.” He gave Ingrid one last kiss, and left the room with his usual bounce in his step.

Tom, Tim, Sean, Louie, and Lionel stood silent as Ingrid came back to them. “You look gorgeous Grid.”

Ingrid smiled as she threaded her arm through Sean’s, “Thanks. You guys aren’t actually going to try and convince me not to marry Joe?”

Tom shook his head, the other guys following suit, “Nah. I mean, he’s the police psychologist, so he’s not… totally CPD.”

Ingrid shook her head. “Thank you for standing up for me today.”

“Well, Tim’s just glad that you’re not making us wear Bridesmaids dresses. Me, I think I woulda rocked it, but…”

Ingrid gave Tom a shove. “Funny, really funny.”

**oOOOOo Now oOOOOo**

“Mama, we don’t…”

“Shhh…”

Henry frowned and stared down at the stone that he and Kerry stood in front of. He could only stay silent for so long though, and spoke again, “We’ll be late.”

“Then we’re late.”

Henry tried to be quiet, he tried his best. “Mama Sandy would like Kim…” He paused, “Do you think that, I don’t know if… if I can ever…”

Kerry pulled Henry to her. “Call her Mom. Either you do or you don’t Henry. I don’t think that she’ll mind either way.”

They were both silent for a long time, it was Henry who broke the silence again. “Mama… I’m scared.”

Kerry frowned and looked down at her son, “No matter what I’ll be here Henry.”

Henry shook his head, “No, not for me Mama. For you.”

“Oh… Henry. You never have to worry about me.”

Henry made a face, “Yeah, but, I mean, it’s sorta like my job too right? Because we’re in it together.”

Kerry kissed the top of Henry’s head, a feat which she soon wouldn’t be able to do. “We are. But, here’s a secret. I don’t think that either of us have to worry about the other. And today…”

Henry rolled his eyes, “Make sure I have fun… I know Mama, you’ve said it a ton of times. I will, I will.”

“I love you Henry Guillermo Weaver.”

Henry smiled and lay his head against Kerry’s side, “I love you too Mama.”

**oOOOOo What Lies Ahead oOOOOo**

Kim stuck her head in the door of her daughter’s prep room, “Are the hunky cro-magnons gone.”

Kim got an elbow in the gut as Ingrid laughed and nodded. Kim came into the room, followed closely by Kerry. Kerry put a hand to her heart, “Oh my heavens Ingrid, you look beautiful. I never… I never thought…”

Ingrid pointed at Kerry, “Don’t… don’t cry. Please don’t cry, or I’ll cry, and then I’ll have to reapply everything, because at some point I lost, or forgot, or whatever, the waterproof stuff, and…” She trailed off as Kerry hugged her, and Kim wrapped her arms around both of them.

After a moment Kim stepped back and glanced around the room, “So, is there anyone who’s fighting fires in Chicago today?”

Ingrid laughed, and Kerry rolled her eyes. Kerry spoke, “You don’t have to change the subject Kimberly. I’ll be okay. I just never thought that I would get to see my daughter getting married.”

Kim leaned closer to Ingrid and gave her daughter a faux whisper, “She just means that she thought she’d have to do all that stoic mother of the groom thing and never get to walk a daughter down the aisle.”

Kerry blushed a bit, “Kim, we don’t have to…”

Kim shook a finger, “Uh uh, you and me, we’re going to walk our baby down the aisle together, no getting out of it now.”

Ingrid looked between the two women and put a hand to her chest, “Damnit.”

Kerry responded without even thinking, “Language Ingrid.”

That caused the hiccup of a laugh to come from Ingrid. “I love you Mama.” Kerry looked just a little bit perplexed as Ingrid grabbed her in a hug again. “Okay, you should shoo… I’ll see you at the aisle.”

Kerry left first, leaving Kim and Ingrid alone for a moment, “Grid.”

Kim wrapped her arms around her daughter. Ingrid lay her head against her mother’s chest and closed her eyes, “Thank you for… for everything Mom, especially the ice cream instead of a cake. I know that you had to take on Abby to get it.”

Kim smiled over Ingrid’s head, “Anything for you Ingrid. You know that, you’ve always known that.”

Ingrid laughed and took a step back, “To my great advantage. I love you Mom.”

Kim gave Ingrid a kiss on the check, “Love you too kiddo. Take what time you need. We’ll vamp if we need to. You know your Mama does a helluva a Lea Michele.”

Ingrid gave Kim a shove in the butt, “out, out,” and Kim laughed as she left the room.

**oOOOOo Now oOOOOo**

“Mom, we’re gonna be late.”

Kim smiled and licked her ice cream cone. “Yep. Probably.”

Ingrid frowned, “And I’m going to spoil my appetite.”

“Ayup. Probably.”

Ingrid’s frown increased, “But you’ll get in trouble…”

Kim smiled at her daughter, “Here’s the thing… my guess is that once we’re married more often than not I’ll be in the dog house.”

Ingrid blinked, “And me?”

Kim reached across the table and wiped a bit of ice cream off of Ingrid’s cheek, “Nah, you’re good to go with Ker, you’re cute.”

Ingrid looked down and the mother and daughter fell into a relaxed silence. Kim finally broke it, “I met your Mom in an ice cream shoppe.”

Ingrid forgot about what was left of her rocky road ice cream cone and looked up at Kim, “Really?”

“I did. It was right around the corner from the hospital. I dumped my cone all over her the first time we met.” Ingrid laughed, “Oh, you think that’s funny huh?” Ingrid nodded and Kim relented, “Okay, yeah, it’s a little funny. Most of our beginning dates took place before her shift or after mine in that same shoppe.”

Ingrid smiled, “Ice cream every day.”

“Yep. And lots of ice cream headaches too.”

Ingrid wrinkled her nose, “Those suck.” Ingrid winced, “Mama— I mean, Kerry— she tells Henry not to use that word all the time.”

Kim was silent for a moment, “Kerry and I, sometimes we have slightly different parenting styles.” Kim paused, “You can call her Mom if you want you know.”

Ingrid looked lost for a moment, the ice cream that had melted still all over her hand. “Do you think that Mom would be sad if I did?”

Kim got a napkin from the holder and took Ingrid’s hand in her own, cleaning it. “No. She’d be happy to know that you love someone enough to have them in your life like that.”

“I don’t think that Mom would have liked Kerry.”

Kim chuckled, “They’d get along eventually I think, but, yeah, you’re probably right. They’d probably have clashed at first. Too much alike.”

Kim wiped her hands on a napkin, and held her arms out. “C’mere.”

Ingrid came around the booth and slid in next to Kim, burrowing against her mother’s side. She mumbled, “We’re totally going to be late Mom.”

Kim chuckled, “I think they’ll wait for us.”

**oOOOOo What Lies Ahead oOOOOo**

“Hey little sister.”

Ingrid jumped a little and gave Henry a whack on the shoulder. “You scared the shit out of me.”

Henry shrugged, “That’s what brothers are for. So, you’re still okay with… this.”

Ingrid shot Henry a look, then it softened just a little and she put a hand on his arm, “Hey, I know that the Magdalena thing’s really screwed you up, but, I love Joe. Joe loves me. We’re gonna have lots of babies, who will wind up hanging out with the kids that you’ll have in a couple of years.”

Henry leaned down and kissed Ingrid’s forehead. “Okay. I’ll go take my place in between your firefighters and your to be husband.”

Ingrid smirked, “They already gave him crap once today. So, thank you.”

Henry paused, then gave Ingrid a hug, quickly stepping back, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned growing up in the Lopez family is that once they’re giving you crap you’re in. It’s if they ignore you that you’re good and screwed and they hate you. So…”

“Thanks for the pep talk. I think. Go… go…” She gave Henry a half a push and he rolled his eyes.

As Henry disappeared down the aisle Kim and Kerry appeared on either side of Ingrid. “Ready kiddo?”

Ingrid took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Okay. Yes… let’s do this.” She looked to Kim, then Kerry, “This is the hard part right?”

Kerry smiled and Kim laughed, answering, “Oh no kiddo, this is the easy part.”

Kerry spoke up, “And, what comes after the wedding.” She glanced over at Kim with a smile, “When you love your partner. It only gets better from this day forward.”

**oOOOOo Now oOOOOo**

Kerry put a hand to her forehead. A voice came from behind her. “You okay Chief?”

Kerry turned and did a double take, “Rachel? Aren’t you on today?”

Rachel shrugged, “I swapped. I had a really important stop to make.” She stepped to one side and Kerry smiled, “Elizabeth, Ella… And…” Kerry’s face went white and she started to teeter. The man who had surprised her gave her a smile and put an arm around her. “My little bird. I would not miss this for the world.”

“Who, how?”

Rachel answered that. “Kim. She… I think that she wanted to go get your family. But, Carlos convinced her not to, and so, instead… she got all of us. I mean, I know it’s not. Oh…” Rachel looked over at Elizabeth as Kerry hugged Rachel. “I— okay, we can do this.”

Kerry smiled as she took a step back. “Okay. Thank you, you should all go get seats, and…”

“The rest of us are in there.”

“The rest?”

“John, Susan, every single nurse we could find, Jerry, the entire Lopez family. We’ve quite packed your side of the church Kerry.” Elizabeth leaned in just a bit, “The Lopezes are one very large family Kerry.”

Kerry smiled, “I know.” She took Elizabeth’s hand in her own, “Thank you.”

Elizabeth paused, “Consider it repayment for not inviting you to my wedding to Mark.” She guided her daughter in front of her, “Now, we will be seated, I think that there’s one more surprise in store for you.”

They all cleared out and a moment later Archie appeared, clearing his throat, “Kerry…” He cleared his throat again, “Doctor Weaver…. Kerry…” He shook his head, “This was such a bad idea, and you’re standing there, and now everything is uncomfortable. But, Claudia, my wife. You know she’s my wife, she said that I could, and.” He trailed off, then nodded and held out his arm for Kerry to take, “…we red heads have to stick together, right?” When Kerry didn’t answer right away he asked a question, “Why aren’t you and Kim, Dr. Legs… ah Legaspi, why aren’t you walking down the aisle together?”

Kerry peeked down the aisle, “Kim…” Kerry shook her head, “Kim said that she has done this before, walked down the aisle, and she wanted to see me do it.” Kerry took a breath and straightened her shoulders. “Okay. I’m ready.” She took Archie’s arm, “Thank you Archie. I know that we’ve not always seen eye to eye.”

Archie cut Kerry off, “I consider you a friend, and… I want to be just like you when you grow up.” Kerry chuckled and the music started playing. “Just… if you’re feeling like you might upchuck, do it away from me please, this tux is a rental.”


End file.
